Joe Biden got nasty at times in a “tense” Zoom meeting with dozens of moderate Democratic lawmakers who called his viability on the presidential ticket into question on Saturday.
Among them was Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), a former Army Ranger who served three tours in the Middle East, who found himself on the brunt end of a personal attack from Biden after he asked about the importance of national security to voters in November, Puck reported.
“First of all, I think you’re dead wrong on national security,” the president said to Crow. “You saw what happened recently in terms of the meeting we had with NATO. I put NATO together. Name me a foreign leader who thinks I’m not the most effective leader in the world on foreign policy. Tell me! Tell me who the hell that is!”
Biden’s response then got personal with Crow.
“Tell me something you’ve never done with your Bronze Star like my son,” Biden said, according to Puck.
Jason Crow served three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was elected to Congress in 2018.
Jason Crow For Congress
Crow reportedly remained calm, responding, “It’s not breaking through, Mr. President, to our voters.”
“You oughta talk about it!” Biden shot back, according to Puck. “On national security, nobody has been a better president than I’ve been. Name me one. Name me one! So I don’t want to hear that crap!”
Crow didn’t appear to take offense to the interaction. After the meeting, he told CBS on Sunday that politics can be a “tough business” and that “there’s a lot at stake.”
“Emotions can run high,” he said. “I think the President heard our message very clearly, and in fact he promised to come back to us with more information.”
The Bronze Star is awarded for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone.
Joe Biden, then vice president, met with his son Beau Biden on the outskirts of Baghdad in 2009.
Reuters
Biden’s son, Beau Biden, received the medal for his service in Iraq in 2008 and 2009 as a member of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps. Crow received his citation in 2003 for his actions as a platoon leader in the 82nd Airborne Division during the Battle of Samawah—the largest sustained urban combat that paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne had been involved in since World War II.
Calls for Biden to bow out of the presidential race have reduced to a minimum after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, which took place about an hour after Biden’s Zoom meeting. That’s despite polls showing Biden is slated to be soundly defeated in key battleground states.
Biden’s call on Saturday did little to calm the nerves of Democrats in tight races of their own, with lawmakers telling Puck that Biden was “rambling,” “dismissive of concerns,” and “unable or unprepared to present a campaign strategy.”
One lawmaker on the call told the website that they’d lost “a ton” of respect for Biden after the meeting.
“He was rambling,” the unnamed lawmaker said. “He’d start an answer then lose his train of thought, then would just say ‘whatever.’ He really couldn’t complete an answer. I lost a ton of respect for him.”
Publicly, however, many lawmakers praised Biden after the meeting, including Reps. Lou Correa, Veronica Escobar, Robert Garcia, Pramila Jayapal, Brad Sherman, and Nanette Barragan.
“What I saw was the President Biden that we saw at the post-NATO press conference, not the Biden we saw in the debate,” said Sherman.
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